According to
world statistics, altogether 22,000 persons have deceived people by
calling themselves "Christ!"

Jesus Christ
has already warned us regarding the kinds of deception that would take
place in the last days.

" ... Take
heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name,
saying, I am the Christ; and will deceive many. Then if anyone says to
you, 'Look, here is the Christ' or There! do not believe it ..." Matthew 24:4,5,23-27

What the
Lord has warned us in the years past, is seen fulfilled today.
These are the end-time warnings already given by our Lord.

The devil
practices his deception in three different ways among the children of
God.

First
Deception:

FALSE
TEACHING!

He twists
the word of God very tactfully and infuses false teaching into the
messages. He with his craftiness diverts the attention of the
believers from the basic teachings.

If I have to
talk about false teaching, and subversive doctrines, then I will have to
write numerous of books. Already there are a few lakhs of them.

One of the
Church denominations says 'Jesus is not God; He is only and Angel of
God. He is only a God sent prophet.' One sect of people publish a
big number of journals and go from door to door and spread this new
message.

Their main
aim is to capture the Christians only. They visit the house of
strong believers daily and direct their attention to this new concept.
They talk in such a diplomatic way and turn them from the basic truth.

Second
Deception of Satan:

FALSE
PROPHESY!

The false
prophets make the believers stumble in the name of "Vision."

They say
things like: "There is a iron chip hidden deep in the eastern part of
the hall in your house."

"The fourth
house neighbor has done witchcraft against you."

Some of them
have the habit of saying all false things to the believers. One
such false prophesy is, "A man will come to marry your daughter from the
south eastern side; his name will begin with 'A'." Such false
prophets are popular among people. They easily attract people by
prophesying about matters ranging from personal affairs to world
affairs, though the prophesy is false.

We can see
false prophets everywhere, in hundreds. They are easily available
to any one, any time.

Satan's
Third Deception:

FALSE
CHRIST!

How can we
discern there false ones? They will deny the name of Jesus Christ
and they will project themselves as Christs.

These false
Christs are different from the other deceivers.

False
Christs will call themselves "Gods." With a divine smile, they
would argue that all religions are one, just as there are many rivers
but one sea. They create clouds above their heads in other
countries, and in India, they produce linga-idols from their mouth.

They claim
that all religious faiths have mentioned about them. They speak
and act in a crazy way, "I here the talk of the parrot", "I understand
the song of the Cuckoo", they would blabber. They would quite
often laugh to themselves, looking at the sky. They have a
distinct style of speaking, pronouncing each word distinctly and pausing
between two words. If we are alert, we can easily spot out these
false Christs.

One thing is
common among them all. All false prophets and false teachers speak
and write, keeping Jesus before them. They would not say that they
are Christs; but they would indirectly exalt themselves by exposing
themselves as somebody endowed with supernatural power. To
distinguish such false teachers from the others, is the most difficult
thing for believers.

You
must improve your knowledge of the word of God. If you fail to do
so, then you are dangerously close to getting trapped by these people.

Some years
back, a Pastor in Korea told his congregation of believers that the
second coming of Lord Jesus Christ was on 31, December of that year;
hence they must be alert and wait for Him on that day.

Even if I
tell you what actually happened, you will not believe. Nearly,
some ten thousand people waited to receive Jesus with a 'Welcome Jesus'
placard.

They
believed that they would go to heaven along with Him. So some of
them carried things like four sets of dresses, currency notes, shaving
set and bank pass book in their suitcase.

Ladies did
not forget to carry their make-up kit. Little children were seen
carrying their Barbie dolls and Teddy Bear.

Hundreds of
Television reporters gathered at the Church to gather news from the
believers. Live telecast programmes were telecast from News
Channels. As the specified time approached, there arose an
excitement among them.

A long hand
mike was stretched before the pastor by the TV reporters. They
asked him, "At what time will be His Second Coming?"

10,000
people returned home with their downcast eyes and dampened spirit ...
with their suitcase. This took place in Korea in the beginning of
the year 2000.

The Second Coming
is an event that must take place but nobody knows the timing of the
great event.
What doest the Bible say about this?

"But of the day and time no one knows, not even the angels of heaven,
by My Father only."Matthew 24:36

The Bible
clearly states this about the Second Coming, but why did these 10,000
people believe the words of a pastor and waited for His arrival on 31,
December at 12 p.m? What is the reason for their belief?

(Let's
analyse the reasons for all such beliefs in the next issue ...)